


The Interrogation

by flowerpetalsandwrittenwords



Category: NCIS
Genre: Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-25
Updated: 2020-11-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:41:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27707803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flowerpetalsandwrittenwords/pseuds/flowerpetalsandwrittenwords
Summary: Just an interrogation where stories are told and old wounds are bravely reopened to help another. TW: Discussion of Sexual Violence
Relationships: Jethro Gibbs/Jacqueline "Jack" Sloane
Comments: 5
Kudos: 66





	The Interrogation

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this because I wanted to address how the aspect of Jack's backstory revealed in Schooled could brought up again in the future of the show. While the rape does not occur in the moment in this fanfiction, it is greatly discussed and described, and I would hate to trigger anyone. Thank you to those that read this, and I would love to know what anyone thinks. Thank you!!

The team had picked up a woman whose fingerprints had been on the bloody knife that was the murder weapon in the death of Master Sergeant David Jones. It seemed like a simple case, and they found her only hours after a neighbor found the Master Sergeant's dead body at his home on the base. Gibbs, Bishop, McGee, and Torres went to her home where they found her lying back on her bathroom floor. When they tried to get her to stand, she fought off their hands, yelling, "Don't touch me!" Gibbs calmed the 30 year old brunette woman, and she collapsed into his arms, crying. When she slowed her breathing and stopped her crying, she said, "I did it. I killed him."

She rode with Gibbs and Bishop back to NCIS headquarters in late afternoon and did not say a word the whole way there and neither did the agents. When they pulled into the garage, Jack was already waiting. When Gibbs got out of the car, he went to Jack and asked, "Why are you here?"

With a grin that contrasted the usual harshness of his voice, she said, "Torres called. Said this woman was different. I spoke with Kasie. This woman was Jones's subordinate and she went AWOL 6 months ago?" She phrases it as a question as a way to see if Gibbs has any more knowledge. He grunts but does not speak. She nods. "I would like to be in interrogation with you when we get her statement." He agrees with a simple nod, and they walk to the elevator joined by the rest of the team and the murderer who is Private Serenity Hansen.

Bishop and Torres set the woman down in interrogation and leave for the observation room where McGee, Vance, Kasie, Palmer, and Ducky are already waiting. When Gibbs is going to go in, Jack grabs hold of his arm and softly — in the way she talks privately to Gibbs — says, "Follow my lead in there. Please, Gibbs."

With a crooked grin, he says, "Ya got a feeling with this, Jack?" She shrugs and smiles softly. She doesn't want to say it, but she does have a feeling. She doesn't like it.

Gibbs and Jack walk in and take the seats opposite of the woman. Speaking with a caring smile and a soft voice, Jack says, "Hello, Private. I am Special Agent Jack Sloane and this is Special Agent Gibbs. I heard from my coworkers that you confessed?"

Jack leans forward in an attempt to make eye contact with the woman who, despite her straight military posture, was looking directly down at the table. The woman nods and says, "Mhm. I killed him."

Jack speaks with a matter-of-fact tone, "I see. Would you like for me to take off those handcuffs so you can be more comfortable?"

At that, the woman looks up starkly, while Gibbs looks to Jack with a raised eyebrow. The agents behind the glass question her actions to which Vance says, "She knows what she's doing."

"Would you, Private?" Jack prompts again. The woman nods, and Jack stands and walks beside her to undo the handcuff holding her to the table. Jack sits on the table beside where the woman sits and is now staring straight ahead, past Gibbs, and at the mirror. "Private, when was the last time you saw Master Sergeant Jones before you killed him?"

As Jack expected, the woman tenses at the name and blinks slowly. Her eyes are closed when she says, "When I was serving under him in Afghanistan."

"Before you went AWOL?" Jack asks. The woman nods harshly. "But I don't understand that, Private. How did you know where he lived? I think you have seen him since you left Afghanistan." Private Hansen swallows. "Where did you see him, Private?"

The woman looks down again and, for a moment, everyone on both sides of the glass are perfectly silent. "The grocery store."

"I see. Did he see you?" Jack asks softly. She had expected this. Gibbs squints at Jack who is entirely focused on the murderer.

The woman shakes her head once, hard. "No," she says, punctuating the word.

In observation, Torres says, "But if he didn't see her then he wouldn't have reported her, I don't understand why she killed him."

McGee says, "They will get it out of her."

Jack asks another question then after a moment of silence, "Did you follow him home?"

"Yes."

"And then you went back home?."

"Yes."

As a statement, not a question, Jack says, "You did not kill him that day." The woman nods again.

With a pointed question, Jack leans closer to the woman and says, "What was your relationship with Master Sergeant Jones like?"

The woman looks at the mirror solidly, like a statue. "He was my superior."

Jack shakes her head meeting the Private's eyes in the mirror. "No. There's more to it than that."

With that, the woman launches from her chair, but Jack does not even flinch. She knew it was coming. Gibbs is finally gathering some understanding, and so is Vance. Facing the wall, the Private says, "What do you know of it?"

The strong voice that comes out of Jack sounds forced. "A lot actually." They are all silent again. When Jack speaks again, she is standing just a few feet behind the woman turned to the wall and her voice is hushed. "How many times?"

The woman turns slowly. Her voice is harsh. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Jack sighs. "Yes, you do, Private." Jack tilts her head slightly and steps closer to the woman. "I saw it the first time I looked at you. I saw it each time I said his name. You are a very strong woman, Serenity. Very strong."

With narrowed eyes, she says, "I killed a man. I am not strong."

Jack is quieter, "You had good reason, Serenity. Tell me."

The woman spins and places her forehead against the wall as her hands go above her head and her fingers dig into the wall. She yells into the silence, "I don't know what the hell you're talking about!"

Jack's quiet voice contrasts the woman's yells. "Yes, you do. And so do I."

The woman whispers into the wall, "You can't."

Jack turns slowly, exasperated, and looks to Gibbs for a moment before making her decision. He tilts his head ever so slightly. Jack sits on the table facing the Private. She sighs, and her voice is small when Jack speaks. "I have a daughter named Faith." Within the observation room, the only ones not to gasp are Vance and Ducky.

"Jack," Gibbs says pointedly to tell her she doesn't have to do this.

Jack raises her hand to stop him and she continues, "I loved that beautiful blonde baby girl the moment I held her in my arms almost thirty years ago. Her face made me forget, for the first time in those ten months prior, what had gotten me there…" Her face is a smile despite the sad look in her eyes. "Still, I gave her up. A wonderful family adopted her. I kept up with her as she grew up, but we were never in contact again…" Her voice becomes more sure when she goes on. "I saw her for the first time since I held her in my arms a few years ago. It was a happenstance. She is a nurse and was a witness in a shootout. I didn't think she would recognize me — didn't think she knew who I am — but she did." She shakes her head at the memory and looks to the woman who had not changed position against the wall though she was slowly releasing tension. "And, God, she hated me. For giving her up, for getting to where I am, for putting myself before her, for every of a million things." Jack looks back to Gibbs for reassurance and he nods with a caring grin. "She needed her father's medical information last year. It was my greatest fear, and she saw it. I went to him and told him to give her what she needed and then I hit him hard. Punched him so hard he collapsed. It was such a _wonderful_ release." She says the word as though it makes her sick. "My Faith went to him later on and got what she needed. We met at a coffee shop and she thanked me and then she questioned the lie I had told her father to tell her. I asked what he had said. He hadn't said anything that I didn't tell him to. But she knew. She saw it on my face. The moment she asked about him, she said she could see it on my face." Again, Jack sighs and the woman relaxes just a little more. Her voice is quiet but strong. "And I can see it on your face… He raped you." At the last word, the woman turns to her and collapses, sliding down the wall to the floor with her head in her hands and crying silently. Jack goes to her on the floor. Touching her knee tentatively, she says, "Tell me what he did to you."

Gibbs has tears in his eyes like everyone else involved. The two women on the floor have tears rolling down their cheeks in a flood. The woman screams through her tears, "I can't!"

Jack places her hand on the Private's cheek, "Yes, Serenity, you can."

Looking up at her, she says, "Who have you told? Your guy isn't in jail, right? Who have you told?"

Jack looks down. "You're right. He isn't. I felt so ashamed for much too long. What happened wasn't my fault and it wasn't yours."

"But did you tell anyone?" The woman's voice is soft and vulnerable.

"Yes. Before this interview, only three people." The woman looks at her. She wants more information than that. Jack nods subconsciously. She will do whatever she needs to in order to help her open up. Jack looks to the mirror. "My friend, Leon, was the first I told…" Within the observation room, Vance gasps as the tears gather in his eyes, while everyone looks shocked. Jack looks to Gibbs who is leaning forward in his chair. His eyes are sad, but his grin is caring. "And then Gibbs…" She looks back at Serenity and says, "And then my daughter, Faith, but really she figured it out herself."

The Private nods and wipes away her tears. "We were doing rounds together at night and we were alone. It wasn't, in the least, the first time I was alone with him. One moment, we were laughing. He made a joke. I can't even repeat it now, but I remember it. Won't forget. And I had turned to look at him when we were done. I had expected him to dismiss me. He didn't. He pushed me into this crevice place. In seconds, I was completely under his control. He clamped his hand over my mouth and, for what felt like forever, he raped me. He left me there in that crevice in the dark. I didn't even go back to my barracks after that. I left that night. I was a stowaway. I honestly don't know how I managed it. All of my focus was getting away from him."

"And you put an ocean between you…" She looks up and nods. "I did the same, well, in reverse. Joined the Army to get away from him." Jack looks down and says, "What caused you to go to him tonight, Serenity?"

The woman shutters as she says, "Nightmares…" Jack nods in understanding. "I thought confronting him, telling him what he did to me was wrong would make them go away. But he told me I wanted it. He kept saying that. He was walking closer to me. He touched my face!" She yells the final sentence, throwing up her hands, and then gets quiet. "I always carry a knife for protection. I took it from my pocket and I stabbed him and stabbed him and stabbed him and stabbed him. It was like this thick fog and the only way to get out was to keep stabbing… But when I came out of the fog, he was dead. I got up, and I ran. I got home somehow. Went to the bathroom to clean up without thinking. But I was so nauseous, I just laid down on the floor. See, his blood is still on me." Jack does not have to look at her clothes — she had seen the blood when she first saw her — so she keeps her eyes on the woman's face.

Jack brings both of her hands to Serenity's face. She speaks strongly and punctuates every word. "I am so sorry." She softens again. "You did not deserve any of it. I am so sorry, Serenity."

Private Hansen nods and wipes the last of her tears. She stands and Jack follows her lead. They are both standing when the young woman — Faith's age, Jack thinks — extends her hands and says, "Handcuff me. I am ready for my punishment." Jack nods and takes the handcuffs that Gibbs passes to her, clicking on each. They stand looking at each other until Bishop and Torres walk in with the stains of tears on their faces, and lead her out. Jack does not look at them. Her eyes stay on Serenity. Just before she is out of the door, Serenity stops and says softly, "Thank you." Jack nods and watches even after she is out of eyesight.

She does not realize she is shaking until Gibbs' steady hand is on the small of Jack's back. She turns into him instantly and he wraps her in his arms, holding her tightly. They stand there together in each other's hug for what feels like forever. He makes her feel safe. With his face buried in her hair, he says in a quiet, yet strong tone that is so entirely like him, "What do you want, Jack?"

She pulls away just enough to see his face, and her warm smile reaches her eyes as she looks up at him. "I want you to take me home and hold me for now… And, later, I am going to call my daughter." 


End file.
